I am AmeriCorps and So Can You!

Working with kids can make you feel both old and young. Just ask a kid how old they think you are. I've gotten in the 30s sometimes, and today this conversation occurred with one of my 3rd graders:

Me: Okay, let's read this paragraph together.
Him: How old are you?
Me: 23.
Him: That was unexpected.
Me: Um, how old did you think I was?
Him: 16.

I suppose I shouldn't judge, I also have a terrible concept of age. But I feel like I at the very least look like I've graduated high school.

Shoot, I'm now a year and a half out of college. It feels like it wasn't that long ago, and now I'm applying for grad schools. I submitted an application to the University of Minnesota, for their teaching program, leaving my options open to stay in Minnesota, but I'm also applying to two California schools. So as I'm preparing to go onto my next step in life, who's going to fill my role at my school? Well dear reader, you can!

Here's my plug for the Minnesota Reading Corps:
The application just opened December 15th, and for anyone who has read about my experience and thought, gee, I'd like to do that! Well, you can. Check out joinreadingcorps.org.  Or, if you'd prefer to work with slightly older kids, and do math, you can always join the Minnesota Math Corps! (Check out joinmathcorps.org). Imagine changing a child's life. Now multiply that by the 1,100 tutors the Reading Corps hopes to place all over Minnesota next year. You too can be a part of it all. You too can make a difference.

As long as I'm promoting things, I'd like to share with you an inspiring project that my friend Kate is undertaking. It's called "Walking Walls: A Photographic Journey, for Peace." She's hoping to address the question "What happens to communities and individuals when a political, physical wall divides a land and a people that were once whole?" by traveling the borders in Cyprus, Northern Ireland and Israel. Check it out here.